Having your own money gives your “no” a lot more weight.

Money is not only about what you can buy. It is about how many situations you are able to walk out of. When somebody else covers your phone, your rent, your gas, every disagreement quietly carries a second layer, and you both know it is there even if neither of you says so.

Whatever you can earn or set aside, do it, even if it is small and slow. Not to prove anything, and not because being broke means you did something wrong. Only because a no backed by your own money is a different kind of sentence, and one day you will be glad you had it.